While some of you might be familiar with the concept of open source software development, in publishing, an 'Open' book is defined as one that maintains an open structure during all or part of its creation.

Here's an example from The Institute for the Future of the Book:

"Lawrence Lessig's, Code: Version 2.0 used a wiki to open the editing process for the second edition of Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, in order to 'draw upon the creativity and knowledge of the community. This is an online, collaborative book update; a first of its kind. Once the project nears completion, Professor Lessig will take the contents of this wiki and ready it for publication.' In other words, at some point the book was declared finished, and closed to further input and adjustment by the community."

The Unsplash Book was and continues to be made in an open manner, pulling from the creativity and knowledge of the Unsplash community. All aspects of the book from the photography choices to the design direction were openly crowdsourced by thousands of supporters who followed the process online.

As we continue to make the book, we will continue to draw upon this creative community for ideas, insight, and inspiration until the time that the book is ready for publishing. If you'd like to take part, sign up for updates at book.unsplash.com/subscribe/

Where the Unsplash Book differs from previous Open books is in how all of the contributors who have openly submitted their work will also be receiving a percentage of all profits made from the Kickstarter Campaign. We've never seen anything done like this before and are excited to be pursuing new and novel ways to create and publish books.

Last updated: Wed, Nov 18 2015 1:57 pm EST

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